Stress is supposed to go hand in hand with the demands of living in multicultural, multimedia, fast-moving societies. Stress management programs promise to help alleviate its effects; bookstore self-help shelves are piled high with texts on the subject. These programs and books are generally based on psychological methods intended to assist the human mind in coping with everyday trials. Yet there are two books—the Bible, and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy—that show one how to cultivate a deep, spiritual calm by lifting thought out of the misconception that stress is real and inevitable.
They teach the absolute truth that one Mind, God, governs all and is expressed in all. There are not millions of human minds out of control; one Mind only is in charge. Love pervades the atmosphere of this Mind, filling thought with calm strength. Yielding to this Mind enables one to ride over the waves of fear and pressure rather than to be submerged by them.
"The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace," Science and Health, p. 506. Science and Health states. Its author, through inspired study of the Bible, discovered for herself and for all mankind how Christ Jesus healed through power divinely bestowed on him by his heavenly Father. This healing power undergirds the divine Science that Jesus practiced, and the truths revealed in this Science can be utilized in healing today, as Mrs. Eddy found in her own experience.
